Faults or weak points in electrical circuits may involve individual components in an electrical circuit having an excessive voltage, or a voltage with the wrong polarity applied to it, for example. The maximum voltages, which are permitted to be applied to the components in this case are dependent, inter alia, on the respective component type. By way of example, the maximum permissible voltage on a “thin oxide” field effect transistor is lower than that on a “thick oxide” field effect transistor.
It should also be remembered that in a complex electrical circuit—that is to say a network with different passive and active components (resistors, transistors, etc.), for example—the voltage potential on a component is dependent on the switching states of the respective upstream components. It is, therefore, also generally necessary to take into account the switching states of the components.
An electrical circuit is normally tested by performing circuit simulations in which the electrical response of the circuit is simulated. Although circuit simulations are useful for detecting the weak points in the design of the circuit, they have the drawback that the circuit response is examined only for the respective prescribed stimulus vector or a prescribed set of input voltages or other parameters (e.g., currents, temperature, etc.). A fault can, therefore, be found only if the stimulus vector or the set of parameters challenges the circuit in a way that produces and reveals a fault that the circuit contains. A further drawback of more detailed or more elaborate circuit simulations is relatively long computation times.